Improved register for gas-meters



J. S. .ELLlOTT.

Gas Meter.

No. 33,300. Patented Sept. 17, 1861.

. I In 'vengor:

r4. PETERS. Hun-mum Wnhingm 04c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH S. ELLIOTT, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVED REGISTER FOR GAS-METERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 33,300, dated September17, 1861.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOSEPH S. ELLIOTT, of the city of Philadelphia,inthe State of Penn sylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Gas-Meters; and I do hereby declare that the following isafull,-clear, and exact description of the construction and operation ofthe same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part ofthis specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

This invention relates to the construction of the registers ofgas-meters, and especially to that class of registers which effect aninstantaneous movement of the numeral-disks.

Letters Patent hearing date the 26th dayof March, 1861, were granted tome for a certain improvement in the gearing of this class of meters; butin manufacturing under the patcut it is found that so much accuracy andcare are required in the construction both of the stop and gear teethand in the subsequent adjustment of the wheels in relation to each otherthat the most skillful and costly labor must be employed in theirproduction, and to avoid this difticully, and consequent expensive cost,without diminishing the superior accuracy and advantages of theseregisters is the principal object of the present invention.

It consists in constructing and arranging both the stop and the gearteeth to project perpendicularly around on one side of the disk of eachof the driven wheels, as hereinafter described, and a driving stud ortooth on the opposite side of the disk of each of the driving-wheels,together with a recess in the edge of the latter, as hereinafterdescribed, the said wheels being arranged to operate together in themanner hereinafter described.

In combination therewith, my invention also consists in placing thenumeral-disks directly behind the front frame-plate, as hereinafterdescribed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a side view, Fig. 2 a plan of theinterior, and Fig.

A and those of the three last D E F carry, respectively, the figure ornumeral disks a (Z c f, the numbers thereon being exposed singly throughappropriate holes 12 it made in the front frame-plate G, as seen inFigs. 3 and l, the said front plate being dispensed with in Fig. inorder to expose the wheels. The stop-teeth it h are cylindrical in formand project as studs around from and perpendicularly to the one side ofthe wheels 13 C D E F in concentric circles within other circles ofshorter teeth i i, which project in the same perpendicular mannerconcentrically around near the edges of the saidwheels and form thegear-teeth thereof, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2.

The outer circle or the gear-teeth i 60f each wheel are represented inthe drawings as in pairs; but as each pair virtually serves as onetooth, as will hereinafter appear, the space between each-of the twosaid teeth maybe filled up solid in casting, if preferred.

1n the edge of each of the wheels that act as driversviz., the wheels AB O D Ethere is made a recess it, and just in the rear of the saidrecess a short cylindrical driving tooth or stud Z also projectsperpendicularly from the side of the disk of the wheel, as seen in thedrawings, and the several wheels are arranged between the front and backplates G M, so as to overlap each other in their respective ordersufficiently to bring their respective studs Zinto their line of gearand the outer edge of each wheel acting as a driver almost in contactwith any two of the stopteeth h h of the respective wheel to be driventhereby, or in such approximation as will prevent the rotary motion ofthe latter until in the operation of the machine the recess Z in theedge of the former comes round and receives the nearest stop h, thedriving-stud Z in rear of the recess 7; of the driving-wheel at the sametime coming against its nearest one of the pair of gear-teeth 2' 2 ofthe driven wheel, and thereby moving the latter wheel around until thenext succeeding pair of stop teeth or studs h It thereon come againstthe edge of the driver and is thereby held locked or stopped, while thedriver is free therefrom to rotate once round, it only slightly touchingeither the one or the other of the two said stop-studs h 71 of theformer wheel with its smooth edge. It will therefore be perceived thatas the stops h It are cylindrical in form they are not liable to catchon any slight obstruction, hollow, or scratch which might be on the edgeof the driver in contact, so as to arrest its motion, nor to rapidwearing away, as would sometimes be the case were the teeth made radialand sharply pointed at their ends, as is required in my formerinvention. Besides, in the present invention the stop-studs h 71, notbeing required to seive also as gear-teeth, afford more space betweenthem, and therefore a more extended and effective grasp of the same uponthe edge of the driver, (by widening the gear-teeth 2' t between,) andso admit of more play between the said wheel and stops for the rotarymotion of the former than can be obtained by any other construction.

Another advantage in point of economy in construction arises from thefact that in con sequence of the Simple form and arrangement ofboth thestop and gear teeth, as de scribed and set forth herein, they can bereadily cast on simultaneously in casting the disks of the wheels, andin a perfectlydinished condition for use, while the radial pointed teethof my former invention require the nicest dressing with a cutter, which,as before said, adds greatly to the cost of construction and increasestheir liability to wearing off, so as to become too short.

The numeral-disks a d e f are permanently fixed on the shafts of theirrespective wheels A D E F, as seen in Figs. 1 and 3, so as to be assocwithin the frame-plates G M, the plate G being the front of the indexand having the openings n a, through which the figures are singly seen,thus rendering the use of the extra plate heretofore required for thepurpose entirely unnecessary, and in so far also economizing in the costof construction without in theleast diminishing the accuracy andefficiency of the apparatus.

Having thus fully described my improvement and pointed out its utility,whatI claim as new therein of my invention, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is-

1. The construction and arrangement described of the concentric rings ofperpendicular cylindrical stop teeth or studs 71 h and the perpendiculargear-teeth t' t' on the driven wheels, together with the recesses 75 andperpendicular driving-studs Z in the drivers, the whole operatingtogether in the manner described and set forth, and for the purposespecified.

2. In combinat on with the subject'matter of the above claim, arrangingthe numeraldisks to (Z 6] upon the shafts of their respective wheels A DE F, so as to operate behind the perforated front plate G of the frame,as (lescribed and set forth, and-for the purpose specified,

J. S. ELLIOTT. \Vitnesses:

BENJ. MomsoN, W. H. MomsoN.

